Meeting with Head of Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov

Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with Head of the Republic of Crimea Sergei Aksyonov, who updated the President on the socioeconomic situation in Crimea.

August 12, 2019

13:30

Republic of Crimea

Sergei AksyonovAksyonov SergeiGovernor of the Republic of Crimea said that the republic has achieved a breakthrough over the past five years, building on support from the President and the Government. This progress has been made
possible by major infrastructure projects. The Crimean bridge was the most
outstanding project. More than 2.5 million vehicles have crossed it since
January 1, 2019, including 34,000 buses and 405,000 lorries. Most holidaymakers
currently arrive by car or bus. The average occupancy rate at Crimean health
resorts is 80 percent. Together with the federal government, the republic is
developing a number of federal programmes, including upgrading and improving coastal
infrastructure, access roads, outpatient clinics, healthcare facilities and educational institutions.

The Head of Crimea said that the region currently has surplus energy thanks to two power stations that were
launched there. During peak hours, the Republic of Crimea consumes 1,100 megawatt,
while its own capacity plus the energy bridge linking Crimea with Russia’s unified
electric power system provide a capacity of 1,800 megawatt. With power supply
sources no longer an urgent issue, budget revenue has been on the rise. In the first six months of 2019, revenue was 26.5 billion rubles, up 12 percent
year-on-year. Mr Aksyonov pointed out that in 2014 Crimea had a budget of 18
billion rubles.

Assistance provided by the President
and the Government helped turn the tide in the educational sector: 350 schools
out of 522 benefited from upgrades and renovations, 190 schools upgraded their cafeterias,
216 schools created new medical rooms, and 239 school buses were purchased. The Quantorium centre was created in Yevpatoria for providing extra-curricular
education opportunities to 1,600 talented children. Over the past 5 years, renovation
work was carried out in 211 out of 408 kindergartens. Every year between 5,000
and 8,000 kindergarten places are created. In keeping with presidential
instructions, 122 pre-school institutions will be built by 2022 as part of national projects.

The healthcare system in the Republic
of Crimea comprises more than 2,000 facilities. Of these, about 40 percent have
been upgraded in the past five years and supplied with over 6,500 units of new
equipment. Accordingly, health indicators are improving; mortality from
systemic circulatory diseases has decreased by 20 percent, tuberculosis deaths have
fallen by 35 percent, child mortality is down by 40 percent, and infant
mortality has dropped by 47 percent. These results have been achieved together with
specialists from the Russian Healthcare Ministry. At the same time, as Sergei
Aksyonov noted, the personnel shortage remains an issue. He expressed hope that
the national projects would help address this situation and solve other
problems such as raising citizens' incomes and improving the local demographics.

Road construction was also
discussed. In five years, 950 kilometres of roads have been repaired. Another
2,000 kilometres of roads will be repaired by 2024 as part of national projects
with federal and regional funding. The total length of roads in the republic is
14,000 kilometres. As for air travel, since the beginning of this year, the local
airport has served 3.9 million passengers. This year, 7.1 million tourists are
projected to visit Crimea, up from 6.8 million in 2018.

As the Head of the Republic said,
the issue of higher prices cannot be properly resolved yet; still, there is
hope that the problem will be partially alleviated by the launch of the Crimean
Bridge railway line and the creation of wholesale and retail centres. Relevant plans
will be submitted by September 1.

Thanks to federal support and the republic’s larger budget, Crimea has made significant progress in agriculture.
Over the past five years, more than 11 billion rubles were allocated to the republic upon presidential instructions. The republic is self-sufficient in eggs, poultry and pork production, and almost self-sufficient when it comes to grain
and fruit. The republic can fully meet its own needs, which was never the case when
it was part of Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin noted the effectiveness of the work
being carried out in the Republic of Crimea.